Age-dependent effective ingestion dose estimations and lifetime risk assessment for selected radionuclides (40K and 3H) in bottled waters marketed in United Arab Emirates

Assessment of internal radiation exposure caused by radon in commercially bottled spring waters consumed in Turkey

The variation of dissolved radon levels in water supplies remains of interest since radon ingested through drinking water can give considerable radiation to the lining of the stomach. This study aims to determine the radon concentration levels in bottled spring drinking water (BSW) brands commercially sold in Turkey using a radon gas monitor and to assess the internal radiation exposure caused by the ingestion and inhalation of radon. The activity concentrations of radon analyzed in 77 BSW brands varied from 7.1±0.8 to 28.7±2.7 mBq/L with an average of 15.7±5.1 mBq/L. The total annual effective dose was estimated to assess the radiological risk for three age groups in four different scenarios based on annual drinking water intake. All estimated dose values are well below the recommended reference dose of 100 µSv for drinking water. Therefore, radon gas in the investigated BSW samples poses no significant radiological risk to the public.

Radon measurement and age-independent effective dose attributed to ingestion of bottled water in Iran: sensitivity analysis

A comprehensive study was made to measure the radon concentration in bottled water available in Iran market. The 222Rn concentration in 70 bottled water samples were measured by the sniffing mode technique and RTM 1688-2 (SARAD, Germany) in immediate sampling time and 3 months later for determination of radon decay. The measured radon concentration ranged from 0.003 to 0.618 Bq L-1 in bottled water samples, which were much lower than the recommended value for radon in drinking water by WHO (100 Bq L-1) and United states environmental protection agency (USEPA) (11.1 Bq L-1). The annual effective dose of 222Rn due to ingestion bottled water was also evaluated in this research. The mean annual effective dose due to ingestion of radon in bottled water for adults, children, and infants were estimated to vary from 5.30 × 10-4 mSv-1, 4.90 × 10-4 mSv-1, and 2.15 × 10-4 mSv-1, respectively. Overall, this study indicated that the Iranian people receive no significant radiological risk due to exposure to radon concentration in bottled water brands common consumed in Iranian market.

Activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, 226Ra 137Cs and 40K radionuclides in honey samples from Romania. Lifetime cancer risk estimated

Romania is on the first place in Europe with an annual production of honey of 30.9 thousand tons in 2018, while the European Union is on the second place in the world with a total of 283 thousand tons. The most part of the honey production from Romania is exported. The aim of this study was to estimate internal radiation doses and lifetime cancer risk from honey ingestion sampled from several locations on the Romanian territory. The activity concentration of ¹³⁷Cs and ²³⁸U is found to be below the detection limit of the method. The activity of ²²⁶Ra ranged from lower than the minimum detectable value (<1.08 Bq·kg^-1) to 7.35 ± 1.73 Bq·kg^-1. For ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K the average recorded values were 1.51 ± 0.74 and 24.08 ± 4.37 Bq·kg^-1, respectively. The annual effective dose due to the intake of ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra, ⁴⁰K has been assessed ranging from 0.08 to 0.47 (μSv·y^-1), 0.35 to 1.65 (μSv·y^-1) and 0.04 to 0.33 (μSv·y^-1), respectively. ²⁶Ra gives the largest contribution (56-82%) to the total annual effective dose due to ingestion received by consumption of honey, in the samples where it was identified. In the other samples (where ²²⁶Ra was below the detection limit), the largest contribution to annual effective dose is due to ²³²Th (45-85%). The values obtained from the lifetime cancer risk calculation range in the domain from 2.85·10^-7 to 1.78·10^-6 for ²³²Th, 1.33·10^-6 to 6.22·10^-6 for ²²⁶Ra and 1.38·10^-7 to 1.25·10^-6 for ⁴⁰K. For ¹³⁷Cs, only one value was recorded 2.20·10^-8. The ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs activities measured in the present work were comparable with completion of others activated values of honey samples around Europe.

Tritium concentrations and consequent doses in bottled natural and mineral waters sold in Turkey and Azerbaijan

In this study, tritium levels in commercially sold bottled natural and mineral waters in Turkey and Azerbaijan were determined. Tritium measurements were performed using Liquid Scintillation Counter (PerkinElmer TriCarb 2910 TR). 16 natural and 11 mineral samples from Turkey and 7 natural and 8 mineral samples from Azerbaijan, for a total of 42 commercially sold water samples were analyzed. The Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) value for the method used was found as 1.69 Bq L^-1. In total, 7 of the natural water samples and 8 of the mineral water samples were found to be below the MDA value. The average activity concentrations in natural and mineral water samples were found as 2.23 ± 0.90 Bq L^-1 and 2.51 ± 0.90 Bq L^-1 for Turkey and 2.69 ± 0.91 Bq L^-1 and 2.43 ± 0.89 Bq L^-1 for Azerbaijan, respectively. In addition, annual effective dose rates and lifetime cancer risk values for the water samples were calculated. These radiological parameters were compared with the values recommended by international organizations. The results demonstrated that consumption by humans of the studied waters would not constitute any health risks in terms of tritium.

The assessment of the annual effective dose due to ingestion of radionuclides from drinking water consumption: calculation methods

In the present paper the different ways of assessing the annual effective dose due to ingestion of radionuclides by drinking water consumption were examined and exemplified. On a set of 10 samples the gross alpha activity, the gross beta activity, the concentration of 210Po, 210Pb, 238U, 232Th and, 226Ra were measured. The highest annual effective dose values assessed by relying on the investigated sample set were found by using the rationale according to which all the gross alpha and beta activity is due to the alpha and beta radionuclide, with the highest effective dose coefficient, namely 210Po and 210Pb/228Ra, respectively.